


Canines To Your Arteries

by peachysun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Biting, Frottage, Ghouls, Jaehyun is so very very out of his depth, M/M, Mild Blood, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:20:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21885145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachysun/pseuds/peachysun
Summary: When Yukhei tells him to stay away from the boy with the studded boots, Jaehyun thinks he’s being told to eat his heart out. Unfortunately, some things get lost in translation.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 14
Kudos: 162





	Canines To Your Arteries

Jaehyun isn’t the biggest fan of clubs.

He _gets_ it, kind of. When you’re drunk enough in the right spot with bass thrumming in your chest, it’s fun to lose yourself, tipping your head back and going along with the music until your body feels like an afterimage. Yuta seems to have the club scene all figured out. The first thing he does every time he sets foot in one is find a bartender, take four shots, then head to where the crowd is thickest. The one time he threw up on someone didn’t at all inspire him to dial it back. _That_ , he maintained, was a statistical anomaly.

“Do we go with him, or –?” Jungwoo watches Yuta disappear into the throng of bodies on _Blackout_ ’s dancefloor, concern filling his voice as he tries to keep it above the music.

Jaehyun waives the suggestion and tilts his head towards the seating area. He’s gotten used to babysitting Yuta’s strays that he picks up around campus, though by the time they get to this stage he’ll usually have seen them once or twice in the library or at their usual coffee shop. Jungwoo’s tall and pretty, with a smile that goes a little lopsided when he talks through it. He doesn’t appear too bothered by Yuta going off, but does keep glancing in the general direction once they’re seated.

“So, what’s your major?” Jaehyun asks as he leans forward. Jungwoo is drumming his fingers on the table in time with the beat, half his face bathed in blue and the other half in shadow. A couple feet from them, someone breaks away from the edge of the crowd, fanning their neck, sluggishly gathering their bearings, and making their way to a booth three spots down. There’s a second-story balcony running the perimeter of the club, and every few minutes the lights slide across the people up there. Jaehyun happens to catch them the moment they pass a guy in a leather jacket biting back a smile as someone whispers in his ear.

“Screenwriting,” Jungwoo responds as he follows suit, leaning in and folding his arms on the glass-covered wood. “What about you?”

“Pre-med,” Jaehyun turns his attention back to Jungwoo.

“Oooh, Doctor. _Very sexy.”_

Jaehyun’s surprise must show on his face, because Jungwoo laughs, cheek in his palm as his eyes glitter with mirth. It sends warmth seeping through Jaehyun’s chest, and he’s suddenly very aware of the stretch of Jungwoo’s mouth – the fullness of his lips.

“I’m sorry,” Jungwoo hardly looks it. “Was that too much?”

Jaehyun cards his fingers through his fringe, shaking it out with a chuckle. “Comments like that usually come _after_ a few drinks, at least in my experience.”

“What are you having, then?”

Jaehyun offers to get the cocktails since Jungwoo is buying. He ends up cutting through the crowd because it’s easier, but the body heat that seeps under his shirt leaves his temples lightly sheened with sweat, and he rolls up his sleeves and undoes his top buttons once he gets to the bar. It’s eight-thirty, so people have only just really started to drift in, but already it feels more packed than usual. This isn’t even the most popular spot for students from their university.

While waiting to be served, Jaehyun glances up at the balcony again. The guy from before is alone now, thumbs tucked into the narrow waist of his jeans. From between the rails, Jaehyun can see him shift his weight from one black studded boot to the other, and absently traces the line of his body from a metal buckle back up to his face.

The guy is looking at him.

Jaehyun clears his throat and glances away, nods when he locks eyes with someone else at the bar, then shakes his head and focuses on signaling the bartender. Two other persons get served before he does, and he manages to not look at the balcony again until he has two large cocktails in front of him.

When he does, the guy has disappeared.

“Look who’s back,” Jungwoo says once Jaehyun is close enough to hear. Yuta is sitting in Jaehyun’s spot, and Jungwoo has moved over to make room for Jaehyun’s roommate, who’s texting with one hand and fingering the pendant on his necklace with the other. Yukhei was one of the first friends Jaehyun had made as a freshman, and a pretty popular fixture in the dorms before they went half-and-half on a place off-campus. The chemistry major knew _everyone_. He was the type to get his class a three-day extension because of how cool he was with the lecturer, though a few professors like Do Kyungsoo were famously resistant to his charms.

“I need more alcohol,” Yuta scoots over to make room for Jaehyun, reaches for his glass, and shrieks when one of his fingers is bent.

“Then go get some,” Jaehyun releases the digit. Jungwoo sips his tangy concoction, licking sugar from the rim of the glass then pulling his straw back into his mouth with his tongue. Jaehyun watches him while stirring his own drink, then takes a sip when Jungwoo smiles coyly at him.

“Stop playing with it and give me some,” Yuta moans. Jungwoo covers his laugh with his hand as Yukhei rushes out a _that’s what he said,_ and Jaehyun rolls his eyes and slides his drink across to Yuta.

“Why are you back so soon?” Jaehyun sighs.

“Sicheng’s here,” Yukhei finally slides his phone into his pocket and leans in, patting Yuta’s arm. “Sorry, bro. I would have texted you before you got here but I saw him right when you did.”

“Ex?” Jungwoo asks.

Yuta puts his face in his hands and gives a dispassionate. _“Ugh.”_

Jaehyun rubs circles on Yuta’s back as Yukhei summarizes the six-week friendship turned one-week relationship turned four-month malice for Jungwoo, wisely omitting how everyone had told Yuta it was a bad idea from the start. He gets his glass back with nothing but sugar on the rim and two half-melted ice cubes, and is immediately reminded that it’s his turn to buy.

“It’s only fair that Yuta finishes your drink this time,” Jaehyun says as he hands over his credit card. Jungwoo gets to his feet and winks, but both his eyes close.

“Are you sure you’re okay to go to the bar?” Jaehyun asks.

“I’m not tipsy,” Jungwoo grins as he steps over Yukhei’s legs. “I’m just shit at winking.”

“He’s cute,” Yukhei says as he watches Jungwoo walk off. “Does he go to our school? I’ve never seen him before.”

“He just transferred from another campus,” Yuta scratches his cheek, words slightly slurred. “Me and Johnny saved him from signing up for Doyoung’s sham of a photography club. He doesn’t need any more people taking pictures of him.”

“Sorry, I –” Jaehyun taps the table to get Yukhei’s attention. “There’s a guy – I don’t know if he goes to our school or not, but I’ve seen him a couple of times tonight. He was wearing a leather jacket and studded boots, his face is small, and I wouldn’t say he’s skinny but –”

“No.”

“What?” Jaehyun’s ears go red. “I just –”

Yukhei makes a cutting motion with his fingers below his neck. “Believe me, I get it, but Donghyuck is too much for you. He’ll eat you alive, dude. Let this one go.”

_Donghyuck._

“Why do you say that?” Jaehyun insists.

“I just told you.”

“You didn’t _tell_ me anything.”

“I _literally_ said –”

“I’m going back out there,” Yuta stands abruptly, slapping Jaehyun’s shoulder. “Fuck Sicheng. I’ll eat his ass.”

Yukhei’s brows pinch. “You sure you worded that right?”

“No, you aren’t,” Jaehyun doesn’t move. “You drank too much and we don’t need another _statistical anomaly_.”

“Get out of my way, Jae,” Yuta tries to kick him.

Jaehyun pushes his leg down, which seems to settle him for a bit, but the moment the other two start talking again he scrambles over the table, using the advantage of surprise to sprawl across the glass and almost brain himself. Yukhei grabs him by the shoulders, dragging him over to his side of the booth, and tells Jaehyun to make sure Jungwoo gets two bottles of water with those drinks.

The number of patrons appears to have tripled since the last time Jaehyun got up. Halfway around the edge of the throng, he stops between two groups of rowdy students, thumbing sweat from his hairline as he texts Yukhei to find out if Yuta has Jungwoo’s number. One person bumps into him and apologizes while trying not to laugh. Another screams “Jungkook! Your phone!” with their hands cupping their mouth right next to his ear. Jaehyun’s attempts to see the bar from his spot are futile, but he tries anyway, eventually scanning the dancefloor on the off chance Jungwoo might be making his way back through it.

There’s a break in the crowd, and Jaehyun spots Donghyuck dancing. He has his fingers laced with a strawberry blond guy in front of him while another holds his hips from behind, and he’s ditched the jacket, the low neckline of his white tee draped over his collarbones.

Jaehyun’s phone vibrates, and the message preview tells him Yukhei texted Jungwoo. He goes to put it back in his pocket, glances up, sees Donghyuck watching him, and nearly drops it.

Someone pushes past him, lips to the rim of their beer bottle as they try to catch any spills, and Jaehyun uses the break in his line of sight to feign looking around, rolling his shoulders. When he chances another brief look in Donghyuck’s direction, he sees him with his arms around the blond guy’s waist, saying something close to his ear. The blond searches the crowd, tilting his head to one side, then his gaze settles on Jaehyun and he nods, eyes glinting and smile wide.

He starts making his way over.

Jaehyun’s phone vibrates again. It’s an unknown number asking where he is. _Jungwoo_. He should head back to the booth.

A hand settles on his shoulder, and another curls around his wrist. It’s the blond. He leans in and asks in a pared accent if Jaehyun would like to dance with him and his friends. Jaehyun looks at Donghyuck. He’s watching him over the other guy’s shoulder.

Jaehyun glances towards the booths.

Hesitates.

Then replies he’ll be back in a bit and presses send.

* * *

It’s sweltering.

Jaehyun knows what it’s like to sweat. He does an hour and a half at the campus gym three or four times a week, alternating weights and cardio, and he leaves drenched every time. The air conditioning doesn’t stop it – it just slows it down. That kind of heat feels like it’s trapped inside him, and doesn’t start seeping out until he hits the showers.

This doesn’t feel like that. This is external, fueled by the mass of bodies gyrating with the music, exhaling against skin and fabric. Jaehyun is hot, but he isn’t tired, and Donghyuck’s skin is cool, like airy silk when Jaehyun presses his forehead to his neck. He smells clean and earthy, like soap and sandalwood, but there’s something underneath it Jaehyun can’t place – something that makes the hair at his nape prickle.

He’s in a trance.

Donghyuck puts Jaehyun’s hands on his hips, throws his arms over Jaehyun's shoulders, and rolls their bodies together in a way that sends heat licking up his spine. They’re not alone at first. The other two move between them, pushing them together and pulling them apart, laughing, teasing – the one with the accent, something Germanic, he curls his fingers in Donghyuck’s hair and tugs his head back, exposing the line of his neck – the other one, with his long fringe and sly smile, he grips Jaehyun’s chin when his mouth gets too close to Donghyuck’s, and it leaves Jaehyun swallowing thickly.

He doesn’t notice them leave. He only notices when he finally has Donghyuck to himself.

It’s hard to tell how long they stay there. The song changes and the crowd screams. The deejay says something. The song changes, again, again, again. Donghyuck turns in the circle of Jaehyun’s arms and wraps them around himself, grinding back against him until Jaehyun is gripping his t-shirt hard enough to rip it.

He’s never danced with anyone before – not like this. He and his friends jump around and act silly, maybe indulge a stranger if they’re in the mood, but they’ve never held each other close enough to feel the way their breaths stir together.

When his fingers are pried off, it’s disorienting, and a pit opens in his stomach. He’s already reaching for Donghyuck when he takes Jaehyun’s hand and draws him off the dancefloor.

There’s a hallway opposite the DJ booth with an emergency exit at one end and bathrooms at the other. Donghyuck turns left, backs up against the wall, and pulls Jaehyun to him by the front of his shirt. Their first kiss is uncoordinated, Jaehyun gathering him up and crushing their mouths together while Donghyuck tugs at his bottom lip with his teeth. It’s frustrating, then Donghyuck laughs. The sound is warmer than he expected – a lilting thing that’s much too sweet for where they are and what they’re doing.

“Fair warning,” Donghyuck brushes their lips together. “Most guys tend not to be into what I’m into.”

“What are you into?” Jaehyun asks, desperate.

Donghyuck takes one of Jaehyun’s hands and slides his finger into his mouth, hollowing his cheeks and slowly lifting his head until the digit slips out of the wet, velvety warmth. The music drifting through the walls is further muted as he ghosts his lips down the side of Jaehyun’s palm, gently sinking his teeth into the flesh beneath his knuckles. Jaehyun can feel his canines scrape his skin.

“You like to bite?” Jaehyun’s face goes hot.

“Something like that,” Donghyuck looks up at him from beneath his lashes.

Jaehyun leans in, but Donghyuck stops him with a hand against his chest, dragging it down his stomach and pushing him towards the bathroom. Most of the stalls are empty, and he draws Jaehyun into the first one, locking the door and straddling him before he’s even properly sat down on the closed seat.

Jaehyun grabs his ass and rolls his hips up into him as Donghyuck cups his face and slides his tongue across his teeth. It borders on torture, the way he kisses – never enough to satiate. Jaehyun grips his hair to keep him in place and slides their tongues together, but Donghyuck grinds against him until something coils tight in his abdomen and his mouth goes slack with shaky exhales. If he could get him back to his apartment somehow, in his bed –

The thought has him sliding his palms up Donghyuck’s back and digging crescents into his skin with his nails.

Donghyuck starts undoing Jaehyun’s shirt, sucking the skin at the base of his throat. He punctuates it with little bites whenever Jaehyun noses at him, trying to coax him into giving him his mouth, and once the skin is bruised, laps at the mark. Jaehyun’s breath hitches when Donghyuck pushes his shirt out of the way and rakes his fingers down his chest, lashes fluttering as he tries to stifle his moans when their rutting starts to get more frantic. He lets Jaehyun kiss him then, wet and messy, until he can’t remember how they taste apart.

When Donghyuck pulls back and dips his head to teeth at the skin on his shoulder, Jaehyun’s world has stopped spinning, pressure building at the base of his cock.

He jerks as a sharp pain flares at his collarbone.

Shoving at Donghyuck’s shoulders until he eases off, Jaehyun’s heart races when he scrabbles at the area and his fingers come away wet and dark – something eerily similar staining the corner of Donghyuck’s mouth before he swipes it with his tongue. 

“Oh,” Donghyuck’s eyes glaze over as he watches blood pool in marks his teeth have left behind, smile breathy and dangerous. “I bit you too hard.”

“Get off!” Jaehyun braces his hands on either side of the stall to stand. Donghyuck doesn’t resist, reclining against the door as Jaehyun shrugs his shirt off his shoulder while trying to apply pressure with his palm.

“It’s just a flesh wound,” Donghyuck teases.

Jaehyun reaches past him to open the door, stumbling out of the stall. Adrenaline makes the lights too intense as he goes to the sink, wetting a hand towel from the dispenser and trying to wipe the blood off. The initial bleeding seems to be the worst of it, though two of the marks appear much deeper than the others.

A guy next to him pauses in the middle of washing his hands to stare goggle-eyed at Jaehyun in the mirror. One of his friends speed-walks out, and the other shoves at him until he’s rinsed all the soap off, ushering him towards the exit without letting him dry his hands and leaving the bathroom otherwise empty.

There’s a clear, frantic “We are getting the _fuck_ out of here” in the hallway before the door closes.

Donghyuck walks over and stands next to him, the click of his boots hollow on the tile floors. Jaehyun’s shirt is hanging off his shoulder as a finger strokes his side.

“Is it your first time?” Donghyuck asks, a little more gently.

The wound is still throbbing, yet Jaehyun can’t think past the press of Donghyuck’s finger. In the mirror, he can see Donghyuck’s hair and t-shirt are disheveled, lips red and swollen, and moles stark against his skin. His eyes have also taken on a weird shine – not quite glowing, but the dark brown of his irises now seem more like gold-ringed carmine.

_Oh._

“I should find my friends,” Jaehyun starts buttoning up, avoiding Donghyuck’s gaze and backing off. The bathroom door opens, and he shoulders past the people coming in, hands shaking as he tosses the paper towel.

He’s halfway down the corridor when Donghyuck tells him to wait.

It’s hard to tell if he stops of his own accord. As much as every gut instinct is telling him to get away, there’s something else, something carnal, that wants to see how much he can handle.

Donghyuck is the one who circles him and holds something out. It’s a few seconds before Jaehyun breaks their gaze and looks down.

His phone.

He reaches for it, but Donghyuck moves at the same time, slipping it into Jaehyun’s back pocket. There’s something warm against his neck, a kiss, and then Donghyuck is gone, through the entryway and back into the crowd without a second glance.

The song changes to a chorus of screams.

Jaehyun tugs at his shirt to try and assess the damage. A couple dark spots have appeared in the shape of the bite, small enough they might have escaped notice on their own, but the arrangement makes them unnatural. Exiting the hallway, he narrowly avoids bumping into someone, and they grab his arm.

“Where have you been? Your last text was like two-and-a-half hours ago.”

Jaehyun stops when he realizes it’s Jungwoo. He’s wearing a tank top, his shirt tied at his waist and Yukhei’s necklace looped around his wrist. Before Jaehyun can respond, Jungwoo lets go of his arm and peers at his shirt.

“What is that?”

Jaehyun makes an aborted move to touch his collarbone. “Someone – someone spilled something on me.”

Jungwoo looks at the stain, then at Jaehyun, then past him towards the corridor. He opens his mouth to say something, but shuts it when Yukhei comes up behind him and puts his chin on his shoulder. He’s got Yuta in tow, hand tucked in his belt to keep him from wandering off, and straightens up when he sees Jaehyun.

“Where were you this whole time? I’m tired as shit. We need to go.”

“Who’s driving?” Jaehyun asks.

“I am,” Jungwoo holds up Yuta’s keys. “These two ended up taking our drinks and I didn’t have anything afterwards. Figured it was better to play it safe in case you turned up plastered.”

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t –”

Yukhei looks him over. “Who were you with?”

“Just a classmate,” Jaehyun ushers them towards the side exit.

“What’s on your shirt?”

“Sangria,” Jungwoo answers for him.

When they get in the backseat, Yuta tugs Jaehyun’s leg towards him and curls up, resting his cheek on his thigh. About two dozen people are milling around the parking lot, one girl taking her heels off to run after her friends, and another sitting on a curb absently flicking a lighter. Jungwoo starts the car and rolls the windows down, chilly air rushing in, and the headlights shine on a guy with dark hair walking past. It’s one of the two Donghyuck had been dancing with. As they pull out of the parking spot, Jaehyun sees the other one, the blond, leaning out of a car window. His yell of “Hendery, this way!” is the last thing Jaehyun hears before Yukhei starts blaring music and Jungwoo presses the gas.

* * *

Jaehyun wakes up because he really has to pee.

He’d barely drank, but his body seems to have missed the memo, limbs heavy and mouth dry. It isn’t until he’s flushed and is standing in front of the sink washing his hands that sense-memory hits him like a truck, and he tugs at the collar of his t-shirt. The square bandage he’d slapped on after dumping Yuta on their couch and locking himself in his room appears to have sufficed, not that it surprised him. The bleeding had stopped long before.

He hears Yukhei coming out of his room while shuffling back to his, and doesn’t bother closing his door. It’s just as well, because there’s a knock the moment he lays down and throws his arm over his eyes.

“Since when do you knock?”

“Is it okay if I use the kitchen?”

Jaehyun lifts his arm to see Jungwoo peering in at him. He’s got an extreme case of bedhead, eyes puffy and voice hoarse with sleep. “Where is –”

“Yuta left about an hour ago – said he was going to annoy someone into making him hangover food? _Taeyong_ , I think it was? Yukhei’s still sleeping.”

Jaehyun props himself up on his elbows as Jungwoo comes in and sits on the edge of the bed. He’s fairly sure the shirt he’s wearing is one Jaehyun lent Yukhei like a month ago.

“That wasn’t a spill, was it?” Jungwoo doesn’t really sound like he’s asking. At first Jaehyun is trying to avoid his gaze, then he’s genuinely staring at the red marks in and around Jungwoo’s thighs. There are more on his neck, one along his jawline, and as he reaches up to scratch his head, one on the inside of his…wrist? _What the fuck._

“And Yukhei wasn’t actually tired.”

“Of course he wasn’t,” Jungwoo looks amused. “I figured you might not pick up on it though, with the bleeding and all.”

Jaehyun sits up and touches the bandage through his shirt. “Ah.”

“Do you want some coffee? Or, I guess tea would be better? Yukhei was telling me about the teas his cousin Jackson sends for him. I thought he would try to turn it into something sexy but…he just really likes tea, I guess.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“He said one was for relaxation, so I’ll make that,” Jungwoo stands. “You’re…sure you’re alright? I mean, I don’t judge, if that’s what you’re into –”

“I _really_ don’t want to talk about this.”

Jungwoo gives him a lazy salute then heads to the kitchen.

The muted sounds of the faucet running and dishes being taken out of the cupboard prompt Jaehyun to reach for his phone. Belatedly, he wonders if he should ask Jungwoo to keep this between them, assuming he hadn’t already said something to Yukhei or Yuta. Beyond his desperation to not have this be _the story_ he’s known for years after he’s graduated, he needs some time to process everything, and not have Yukhei pull up random instrumental tracks on the Bluetooth speakers in their living room to sing _‘I told you so’_ while he’s doing it.

He’s never met anyone like Donghyuck. Not really. Growing up, there had been a couple living on his street that he’d overheard his parents say did that sort of thing – _were that sort of thing_ – but he’d never spoken to either of them, and ran past their house every day after school. He wonders how Yukhei found out, and whether anyone else knows. How often did Donghyuck go out? Did he find someone to do that with every single time? Were his friends like him?

Had he been genuinely interested or just having fun?

Jaehyun rubs his eyes, unlocking his phone to unread texts. There’s a couple from his friends, dozens from his class group chats, and the newest thread is from an unknown number.

He opens the last one to add the contact, assuming it’s from Jungwoo, but instead of a message asking where he is, the first of the three texts is an address. Jaehyun’s finger hovers over the second, his pulse hammering in his ears.

_Attachment: 1 Image._

He taps the link.

It’s a selfie taken from above, Donghyuck laying on a mess of fur blankets with his mouth open, canines visible, and his gaze half-lidded. There’s a distinct, red stain on his cheek and chin, his free hand splayed loosely on his chest.

 _‘You can gag me this time xx_ ,’ the message beneath it reads.

“I actually don’t remember which is the energizing tea and which is the relaxing tea,” Jungwoo comes back holding two boxes, brows furrowed. “What is Hawthorne? Does that sound more or less relaxing than – Jaehyun?”

The bed is empty, Jaehyun’s phone and wallet missing. The front door closes half a second later.

Jungwoo exhales, shakes his head, then goes to get his coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by: https://twitter.com/lunnarsystem/status/1206264837661249546
> 
> Me: I’ll only write one fic  
> Lunniere: Yo, Jaehyuck with ghoul hyuck  
> Me: clown emoji


End file.
